100 
SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 
Gerard tells us: “ The moderate use of it is good 
for the head and maketh sences more quicke and 
lively, shaketh off heavy and drowsy sleep and 
maketh a man mery.” 
In the “ Maison Rustique }> we read that it was 
used for “ weaknes of the stomacke and fainting of 
the hart: it keepeth from being drunke, and healeth 
the bitings of serpents and spiders ” (p. 229). 
It was much used as a dye, especially for the rich 
golden yellow of illuminations. Gerard in his 
“ Herball ” says: “ The chives steeped in water 
serveth to illumine, or as we say limme pictures and 
imagerie, as also to colour sundry meats and confec¬ 
tions but, according to Hooker, the saffron drug 
is principally yielded by another plant, the meadow 
saffron (Colchicum autumnale , L.), an undoubted 
native plant found both in the Stour Valley and in 
that of the Avon in several places near Stratford-on- 
Avon. 
Ellacombe apparently pleads in favour of the 
Crocus nudiflorus and Crocus sativus , L., which are 
certainly not native plants. Shakespeare refers to 
the plant only as a colour; in one place as a 
beautiful thing—the colour of the wings of Iris, 
Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers 
Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers. 
Tempest , IV. i. 78 ; 
while its use in cooking is noticed by him in the line 
I must have saffron to colour the warden pies. 
Winter's Tale , IV. iii. 48. 
The other two references are: 
Did this companion with the saffron face 
Revel and feast it at my house to-day ? 
Comedy of Errors , IV. iv. 64. 
